


you're part of me now

by prettyaveragewhiteshark



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Universe, Emotional, One Shot, Post-Canon, That is all, also I'm in love with old man bolin, basically this is just me in my feels about what would happen after Korra died
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28696107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyaveragewhiteshark/pseuds/prettyaveragewhiteshark
Summary: A little one shot, set fifteen years after the death of Avatar Korra. Bo is an Earthbender who has been identified as the new Avatar, but she doubts that she's the one to fill Korra's shoes. A strange visit in the forest helps to change her mind.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	you're part of me now

Night had fallen over the Won Shi mountains, cloaking everything in darkness. A high moon shed precious little light through the thick foliage of the forest. The sound of nocturnal animals thrummed through the cold dark, the squeal of hog monkeys and the call of nightbirds creating a strange, otherworldly tune. 

Bo rode alone astride her deer-elk, Bilu. 

To the idle bystander, she would have looked lost - after all, what else could a young girl wandering in the woods past midnight be? But she knew exactly where she was. These were _her_ mountains, after all. A quick seismic check a few moments previously had reaffirmed her confidence. She could feel the path of the mountains, running a jagged line from southeast to northwest, and springing off the far northern tip was the compound, an unusually rectangular shape against the rugged backdrop of the mountain range. 

It was too late to head back now. She’d be riding til morning, and then she’d just be taken directly into her training. No, she’d stay the night out here. Build a fire, get some rest, and head back at first light. She could already hear Master Opal now - _“You cannot keep running off like this! You have a duty as the new Avatar to dedicate yourself to your training.”_

“But I’m not the Avatar,” Bo mumbled to no one. 

Every time she’d mentioned that to her masters, they’d argued with her, but so far they hadn’t been able to prove her wrong. Sure, she’d passed the standard test of recognizing three of the former Avatar’s closest friends in a group of hundreds of people, but that could be nothing but coincidence. Just because Master Bolin, Master Opal, and Ms. Sato had seemed like the most familiar faces in the bunch didn’t mean anything. They _were_ very friendly, even for old people. And Bo had always had a soft spot for the grandparent type anyway, after losing hers so recently. 

It didn’t mean anything, Bo had insisted, both to herself and to anyone who would listen. She wasn’t special. She was the odd man out, the third of five children, the only one who hadn’t managed to amount to anything by the ripe old age of fifteen. Not like her siblings, who had all managed to land high profile jobs or scholarships to the famed Earth Bending Academies before they’d graduated school. She was just Bo. She belonged in the mountains, herding the family’s goat-sheep with her father. 

Not to mention the fact that she couldn’t do anything but earthbend. Even with the best teachers in the world at her disposal, she hadn't been able to muster so much as a ripple in a pond or a breath of a breeze. Master Jinora had more skill with the spirit world than anyone alive, and even she hadn’t been able to guide Bo into a spiritual meditation, let alone the spirit world itself. 

They had it all wrong. Someone else, _anyone_ else, could be the Avatar. But not Bo. Bo was born to be simple, to have her hands in the dirt, to make an honest if meager living off the strength of her back, and that’s all. 

She did feel badly that she wouldn’t make it back until tomorrow. She knew how much it made her trainers worry, but it hadn’t been on purpose. All she'd needed was some time in the forest, space to clear her head. She hadn't meant to make it a 12-hour walkabout through the Won Shi wilderness.

There was a jingling sound overhead and the flapping of wings. Her eagle-hawk appeared out of the darkness, the carcass of a rabbit-vole in her beak. Bo raised her arm, letting the bird settle on the thick leather gauntlet there. She took the carcass, tying it deftly to Bilu's harness with a strip of leather, then fished a bit of jerky from a pouch at her waist. The bird snapped it delicately from her fingers, head bobbing as it swallowed. Bo stroked the silky plumage on her neck. 

“Thanks for dinner, Alla.”

Alla screeched a little, and hopped with a flurry of feathers up to Bo’s shoulder, perching there comfortably. 

Bo rode until she found a place to camp, a clearing of trees butted up against a rocky outcropping - a good shelter from the wind, with the surrounding forest as coverage to keep the air from getting too chill. She removed Bilu’s reins and bridle, letting her graze on the leafy green foliage of the surrounding shrubbery. After clearing away the brush from the ground, she set about gathering dry kindling and branches for a fire. Her firebending trainer, Master Naoki, would be beside herself if she could see Bo now, striking flint and steel to create flame like some common earthbender. 

“Well maybe it’s cause I can’t firebend,” Bo said to the darkness. “Cause I’m not the Avatar! Ever think about that?”

The only reply was the sound of the fire hissing suddenly to life. She tucked the flintstone away, feeding the small flame with kindling until it roared, casting a bright glow and warmth around the small clearing. 

Bo sat back, satisfied, crossing her legs as she pulled out a small knife and set about skinning and spitting the rabbit-vole to hang over the fire. Soon the clearing was filled with the smell of cooking meat, the sound of it sizzling making her stomach growl. Once it was cooked through, she seasoned it with a bit of salt from her belt pouch and dug in. It wasn’t the most luxurious dinner, certainly not like what the White Lotus provided her with, but it was more than enough for her. She stared into the flames as she ate slowly. 

Maybe tomorrow she would do it, really sit down with Bolin and Opal and tell them in no uncertain terms that she was _not_ the Avatar, and that they didn’t need to continue wasting their time on her. Every day she spent on the compound was another day that the real Avatar was missing out on their training, and Bo wasn’t interested in being the reason that the world was going without a source of peace and balance to guide it forward. 

It wouldn’t be an easy conversation to have. The masters had such confidence in her. They were all so sure that she was the one. And, if she was being honest, the thought of leaving the compound made her chest ache. She’d felt so at home since they’d brought her to live there, and even though she was given plenty of opportunities to visit home, to see her friends and family in the village, she always found herself missing the compound and the people in it when she was away. 

But it was a necessary sacrifice. She wouldn’t be so selfish as to take advantage of the care and hospitality of her trainers. She’d cut them loose, insist that they restart the search for the real Avatar. Whatever pain it may cause her would remain hidden, and eventually they would forget about her. It would all be for the best. 

There was a rustling sound in the trees, and she started a little, looking up quickly to survey the shadows. Movement in a lively forest wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary, even at night, but the sound had been close and low to the ground, but Bo hadn’t felt any kind of disturbance in the earth. She’d spent so much time growing up in the forests surrounding her home, she’d learned to detect even a squirrel-mouse’s footfalls, and even though the rustling sound had been much larger than a rodent could make, there was there was no indication seismically that anything had moved across the earth.

But then Bo saw a shape in the dark, and it materialized into a woman stepping into the clearing from between the trees. She had dark skin and chin-length hair, and wore a short coat, loose trousers, and boots. When she saw Bo, she didn’t seem surprised in the least and smiled pleasantly. 

“Hello,” she said.

“Hi,” Bo responded instinctively. 

“I was just passing through and I saw your fire. Mind if I join you for a minute?”

Bo gestured at the ground in invitation, and the woman sat across the fire from her, crossing her legs. Bo studied the woman’s face, completely forgetting her manners as she tried to place her. She’d seen her before somewhere, she was sure of it. But where? The woman’s eyes were bright blue, and while it certainly wasn’t unheard of for Water Tribe descendants to make their way to the Earth Republic, it was very uncommon, especially for more remote regions like this where multi-nation assimilation hadn’t taken full effect yet. 

The woman looked up at Bo, meeting her gaze, and Bo glanced away quickly, flushing and hoping that it wasn’t obvious that she’d been staring. 

“You’re pretty far from the closest village,” the woman said, her tone casual. 

“Bilu covers a lot of distance,” Bo said, gesturing idly at the deer-elk. 

The woman nodded. “She seems like a sturdy mount.”

“What about you? You’re just as far out here as I am, and you’re on foot. I’ve never seen you in our village before.”

The woman chuckled. “No, you’re right. I’m not from around here.”

“Water Tribe?” Bo asked, wanting to confirm her suspicions. 

“Mhm,” the woman nodded. “Southern.”

“You’ve come a long way.”

“Yeah,” the woman sighed, leaning back on her hands. “I guess I have.”

A silence fell between them. Bo tried to keep her eyes on the fire, but her gaze kept moving to the woman’s face as if magnetized to it. There was something so familiar about her. So present. Her expression was peaceful as she stared into the flames. Then she spoke again. 

“So, I hear they’re training a new Avatar. That’s pretty exciting.”

The subject wasn’t an unusual one. Bo knew that speculation about the Avatar’s identity was a standard topic of gossip and small talk, especially since Avatar Korra’s death. Everyone knew that her connection to her past lives had been severed by her uncle, an evil man by the name of Unalaq, and no one knew for sure whether there would be another Avatar after her or if she was the last. It was yet another reason Bo felt certain that she wasn’t the new Avatar. Maybe there wasn’t going to be another Avatar at all.

“They’re trying, that’s for sure,” Bo responded.

The woman cocked her head, lifting an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?”

It wasn’t exactly a secret, but Bo hadn’t divulged information about her supposed identity to very many people who didn’t already know. But something about this stranger, about the presence she brought, about the fact that Bo would probably never see her again after tonight, made her tongue loosen. 

“Cause I’m the one they think is the Avatar.”

A slow smile touched the woman’s mouth. “But you don’t think you are.”

“I _know_ I’m not. I can’t do anything but earthbend.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed a little in good humor. “You know steel and flint don’t make _fire_ , right?”

Bo felt her brows furrow at the odd question. “What?”

“They make sparks. Not fire.”

Well, that couldn’t be true. Bo had always managed to produce flame from her steel and flint. Maybe it wasn’t common, but it obviously wasn’t impossible. But the woman continued before Bo could say so. 

“Anyway, you passed their Avatar-finding test, didn’t you?”

“Sure, if making friends with a couple of friendly grandparents counts.”

The woman laughed. “They didn’t really have much else to go on, did they? What with the broken chain and all.”

That was also true. In the past searches for the new Avatar, there had been tests devised to determine the new Avatar based on identifying belongings owned by past Avatars. Bo knew that Avatar Korra had been the exception to that rule due to her incredible control of three out of the four elements before she was five winters old. In this instance, though, Bo had heard that they’d had to throw all those traditions out since the new Avatar, if there was one, would only have a connection to Avatar Korra. 

“No, I guess not. But I’m not the Avatar, so it doesn’t really matter.”

The woman looked at Bo for a long moment, her expression unreadable but her eyes warm. “What makes you so sure of that?”

Bo laughed a little. “Cause I’m just _me_. I’m just an Earth Republic sheep-goat herder, and I’m good at that, and that’s enough for me. Not everyone is meant for greatness.” There was a quiet, a long, lingering pause, and Bo felt the words bubble up inside her, words she hadn’t spoken to anyone, words she’d barely allowed herself to think. “Especially not me. Not after her.”

“After who?”

“Avatar Korra,” Bo said with some difficulty. Even her name felt too precious for someone as lowly as Bo to speak aloud. “She was a legend. She changed the whole world. She overcame so much. She left this...this legacy behind, and if I’m the next Avatar, that’s a legacy _I_ would have to live up to. But I couldn’t do it if I tried. I could never be good enough for that.”

There was a pregnant pause. 

“Bo,” the woman said finally. Her voice seemed to resonate in the clearing, like it carried such a gravity that the very air around them had to shift to accommodate it. The woman had not asked Bo's name, nor had Bo given it, but she said it so gently, so familiarly, that it didn't strike Bo as strange that she already knew it. Bo looked at the woman, and she was watching Bo with such clarity, such genuine kindness, such _love_ , it made Bo's breath come short. 

“Avatar Korra was just a person,” the woman said. “She was just a kid like you. Totally unprepared for what she went through, but she figured it out along the way. She messed up a lot, but she managed to make it out alright in the end, and so will you. You’ll do the best with what you have, and you’ll learn, but you’ll do it right.”

“How do you know?” Bo asked, her voice quiet.

But she knew the answer already, because she suddenly knew where she’d seen this woman’s face before, where she’d heard her voice. Somewhere in time, mere seconds into her life, in the moments before she’d even had a name, she’d met this woman. She’d shared something with her. An exchanging of identities, a passing on of the bright white light. Bo had forgotten, but now she remembered. She remembered, and she felt the breath catch in her chest as she stared across the fire at Avatar Korra. 

Avatar Korra smiled, and the warmth in it filled Bo’s chest until she thought she might burst. 

“Because,” Korra said. “You are the Avatar, Bo. Raava chose _you_. And I, for one, think she couldn’t have made a better choice.”

Bo had tears in her eyes, and she swiped at them hastily, unable to look away from the Avatar’s face. “It’s you,” she said. 

“Yes,” Avatar Korra said gently, her eyes soft. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.” She laughed then. “To be fair to myself, you’ve made it a hell of a time trying to get through to you. You wouldn’t believe how noisy it gets in your head when all you’ll think about is how you’re not the Avatar.”

Bo laughed through her tears, feeling ridiculous and elated and shy. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t sweat it. What matters is that I’m here now.”

“I guess I won’t need to tell my masters that I’m leaving, then, will I?”

“Nope,” Korra said, shaking her head with finality. “And I’m glad I managed to get to you in time to stop you. You would’ve broken their hearts, Bolin’s especially. He thinks it’s meant to be that you two almost have the same name. Besides,” Korra chuckled, “Asami would’ve hunted you down. If I know anything about my wife, it’s that she’s not one to give up on someone who thinks they’re a lost cause.”

Bo laughed. Yes, Ms. Sato didn’t seem like the quitting type. 

“I have so much to ask you,” Bo said. 

“I know. But I won’t have all the answers. That’s kind of the point of the mantle passing on. I was what the world needed in my time. You are what the world needs _now_. I’ll help however I can, and I’m certainly not above kicking some ass from time to time, but just remember that you are the Avatar, right here and right now, for a reason.”

Bo nodded, allowing the realization to sink in that she’d been holding at bay all this time. She was the Avatar. It felt like a weight lifted and an entirely new burden all at once. She let it rest at the center of her chest, holding it just over the light that had been there all along, waiting quietly since the moment she was born. 

Korra stood, brushing dirt from her pants, and Bo rose to her feet quickly, her heart sinking. 

“You’re leaving?”

Korra straightened, moving to stand in front of Bo. She placed one hand on Bo’s shoulder, and the other on her chest. 

“Never,” she said with a smile. 

Then she turned and moved into the trees and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Bolin found his wife exactly where he thought she would be, standing in the pre-dawn mist outside of the compound gates. She didn’t turn as he approached, her eyes trained on the horizon, her arms folded over her chest in her green fur-lined coat. Bolin pushed a cup of steaming tea into her hands and pressed a soft kiss to the gray hair at her temple. 

“She’ll come back,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm comfortingly. 

Opal sighed, tilting her head against his neck briefly. “How do you know?”

“Because she’s our girl.”

“She’s fighting it so hard, Bolin. I _know_ she’s the Avatar, but she doesn’t want to believe it. I don’t know how to get through to her. I’m scared that I’m just going to push her away.”

“I know, but I’ve got a good feeling about today.”

Opal looked up at him. “Really?”

He nodded and smiled. “Just wait and see.”

They stood together and watched the sun tint the distant sky a pale pink, the color growing in brightness until the sun rose over the horizon. The air grew colder, the dawn chill sinking into both their bones. Still they stood, watching, waiting. 

Then, there, in the distance, Bolin saw movement. It was small and steady, a figure growing from a shadowy shape to something more defined, something concrete, as if it were a piece of the earth brought to life. It was Bo, riding forward sat astride the shoulders of her massive deer-elk steed. As she drew closer, Bolin saw her eagle-hawk circle through the air and light on her shoulder. She was too far away for Bolin to really make out her features, but something about her felt older, more mature, more steady, the mane of her long hair billowing over her shoulders in a gentle morning breeze. 

Then, appearing like a mirage from a far away oasis, there was a new figure there, walking steadily beside Bo and Bilu. Bolin felt his heart stutter, and beside him Opal gasped. 

“Korra,” she whispered, and Bolin’s eyes filled with tears even as a broad smile stretched across his face. 

Yes, it was Korra. Looking young and hardy and radiant, just as she had all those years ago, her expression peaceful and knowing, her blue eyes shining in the light of the early sun. Her hand rested on Bilu’s neck as she walked, as if she were escorting the Avatar home. Bolin wanted to sprint forward, wanted to catch her in his arms, sweep her into a bear hug and hear her bright laughter as if they were young together again. But he didn’t. He stayed where he was because she wasn’t there for him. She belonged to the spirits, and to the new Avatar, to young Bo, who looked for all the world like an other-worldly warrior as she rode forward through the morning mist. 

Bo pulled her steed to a halt, dismounted, and approached, Korra at her shoulder.

This was the division of earth and sky, of blue and green, spirit and mortal, the blurring and blending of two worlds, cutting a path wide enough to fit them all for a moment, making the air glow as if lit from the inside. The last Avatar and the first stood before them, shoulder to shoulder. 

“I’m ready now,” Bo said, sounding young and old all at once. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

Opal made a small sound like a sob as she grabbed Bo’s shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Bolin wrapped his arms around the both of them, looking up at Korra. 

Korra smiled. “Asami is waiting for you three. Don’t be long.” 

Bolin felt Opal look up, and together they watched as the figure of their old friend shimmered and vanished in the light of the risen sun. Then they each kissed the new Avatar on the top of her head and led her inside, where Asami was waiting with breakfast. 


End file.
